Monday, July 23, 2018

Honolulu Creek - 7.21.2018

After a prolonged negotiation with Leah, we agreed to an alpine-start
at Fire Island at 8:55 on Saturday morning. By 9:30 we were on the road with
cookies, scones, and coffee for fuel. We stopped by the Honolulu Creek bridge
to check on water levels, chatted up a vanload of curious Indian tourists,
hydrated on Bud Light Lime, and by 1:30 were hiking out of the Hurricane Gulch
parking lot. After Aniakchak, it felt weird to be walking on a trail made by wheels
instead of one made by the terrifyingly large brown bear paws of the Alaska Peninsula.
The climb went by quickly and was broken up by a friendly family of
rednecks on a six-wheeler followed by a long break under the cloudless skies.
It was hard to feel hurried with nearly infinite daylight and
perfect weather.

It wasn’t till around 8 PM that we had finished the straightforward
hike and were putting at the mini-gorge. Within 15 minutes, the
horizon line of the creek pouring over California Ledge was in front of us.
Leah asked if she was going to die and confirming that she probably
wouldn’t we continued. The rest of the run was a fun and
interesting pool – drop style creek with occasional sections of dragging
through flat water. It’s easy to imagine that it would be more continuous, powerful,
and exciting at higher flows. At one-point Alex and I saw a giant beaver watching
from the bank. With a body the size of a chocolate lab, it slid into the
river and floated under us like a furry submarine. In the lower river we
started to pass colorful king salmon as they swam slowly upstream. By 11 we were at the
takeout where Tony and Cody were running over in their head nets to say hi. Tony
and I did a little planning for caribou hunting season, then we were on the
road home. Without traffic the drive was fast, and I happily crawled into bed
at 3 AM on Sunday morning.

Jeff on California Ledge:

Leah:

Pixie dust in the evening light:

Leah on one of many smaller drops:

Paddling out the last bit to the bridge:

Streamflow Reference Points for 7/21/2018:

Montana Cr - 280 cfs - median is 320 cfs.

Willow Cr -540 cfs - median is 530 cfs.

Honolulu Cr @ Bridge - 250 cfs (estimated) - any less water would
not have been floatable.